The bills seek to regain Louisiana's prominence as a site for filming movies by increasing the profitability of the film industry working in the state. Louisiana became the third most popular site for filming, behind California and New York, by offering tax credits that lowered the cost of making movies.

Shreveport director Lampton Enochs said the state's business dropped off dramatically this year because other states - particularly Georgia and Michigan - started offering more lucrative credits and, under current law, Louisiana's tax credit is to drop from 25 percent to 20 percent by July 1.

Asked whether this change would solve the problem, Adley said, "This keeps us more competitive than we were."

The amount of tax credits "is a moving target," he said. "You will reach a point in time when you have a dog chasing its tail. You can't keep doing this. I believe we will remain competitive for at least a year."

Adley's bill seeking to increase the credit to 30 percent and make it permanent at first was frowned upon because the cost was too high for a state suffering financial difficulties. After working with the industry and the state film office, he found that by making some alterations, 30 percent was achievable with no greater cost than renewing the current program, as Henry's original bill sought to do.

Both bills, which are headed to the House and Senate for final votes, call for a 30 percent credit for filming but, instead of an additional 10 percent credit for hiring Louisiana talent, the amount would be reduced to 5 percent.

The bills also state that any salary exceeding $1 million would not earn more credits.

Another provision that reduces the cost of increasing the credit is the state buying back the credits at 85 percent of their value, instead of 100 percent.

Under current practice, few movie makers cash in the credits. Instead, they sell them to brokers for a percent of their value and the brokers resell credits to Louisiana residents and businesses that cash them in to reduce their taxes.